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Lying hypocrite Keith Vaz is at it again. The corrupt Labor politician has once again brought up the subject of violent videogames, perhaps because it distracts everybody from his shady legal deals and questionable expense accounts. In any case, he wants cigarette-style warning labels on game boxes, and states that adult videogames are worst than films. 

“A film with inappropriate content is not interactive,” bullsh*ts Vaz. “The point about video games, which is backed up by research from America, is that the player is part of the process. Players shoot and stab people in a videogame, and that is different. I accept that inappropriate content is wrong, wherever it is found, but videogames are different.

“If a young person gets hold of Modern Warfare 2, for example, they will be asked to participate in a terrorist attack; they will be asked to shoot at civilians in Moscow airport as part of the game.”

Vaz says he’s not a fan of censorship, and that adults should be allowed to play violent games. However, he still trotted out the Stephen Pakeerah case and claimed that the young boy was killed thanks to Manhunt, despite a conclusive police report saying that Rockstar’s game had nothing to do with it.

So yes, yet more misconceptions and outright lies from Mr. Vadge. Until next time! 

Keith Vaz Warns Violent Games Are Worse Than Violent Films [Negative Gamer]

Voice actor Jon St. John set the universe straight during the Music and Video Game Festival by not commenting on his role as Duke Nukem in 3D Realms’ Duke Nukem Forever. The key here is what the blank space implies.

“I’m not allowed to speak on that subject, sir,” St. John replied when asked about DNF. He added, “Let me go ahead and tell you right now: I’m not allowed to speak about Duke Nukem Forever.” The crowd in the stuffy room booed. “No, no, don’t be disappointed. Read between the lines.

“Why am I not allowed to talk about it [DNF]?”

The need for silence on the subject might have more to do with the ongoing legal brouhaha surrounding the studio and the game rather than its ongoing development, but this world is a place of infinite and surprising possibilities. Example: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. No-one saw that coming.

Duke Nukem Himself All But Confirms Duke Nukem Forever [Pixel Enemy, via Screw Attack]

Vanillaware, best known for gorgeous 2D games such as Muramasa and Odin Sphere, has revealed an incredibly saucy piece of artwork studio founder and lead artist George Kamitani. The painting is called “The Three Graces” and can be found on Vanillaware’s splash page.

While not exactly nude (there are no visible nips or squirt-holes) we’ve covered things up a little anyway to stop people whining in the comments. If you’re not at work or your boss doesn’t care about you looking at smutty paintings of Roman and Greek Goddesses, then check out our gallery for the full whallop. 

Whether or not this hints at a new game remains to be seen. Could be that Kamitani just wanted to show off his new picture, and that’s not a bad thing at all. 

Could Vanillaware be teasing their next game? [GoNintendo]

I am fully aware that by posting this, I am essentially opening up any positive review of Darksiders (released this week) to accusations of pay-offs and bias. However, I don’t really care, because I just received a GIANT MASSIVE DARKSIDERS SWORD! Yes, after receiving the biggest box in the world, I opened it up to find not only my review copy of the game, but this ridiculous beast. 

The sword (known to Darksiders players as the Chaos Eater) is so ludicrous that I literally burst out laughing when I took it out of the box. Even though it’s not metal, obviously, the thing is still insanely heavy and I had trouble keeping it held with one arm for too long, even though I am quite mighty.

I’ve heard tell that a Destructoid reader may be able to win one of these bastards if they’re very lucky, but they’re going to have to tune back in to Destructoid later this afternoon to find out how. If you want your own mental sword to scare the neighbors with, keep reading Dtoid. We’ve got the hookup!

Here’s a (pretty much) direct transcript of the final moments of my recent conversation with Capcom’s Seth Killian-

Me-”There are rumors going around that March’s Mega Man 10 will have a co-op mode, and that Bass will be the third playable character. Wouldn’t that be cool? Huh? Wouldn’t it?“

Seth-”Um, yes. Sounds fun to me. I have to go now.“

Me- “…and with Mega Man 10 coming out in less than 90 days, must you continue the madness surrounding the elusive Mega Man 9 secret. Can’t you give us a good hint for a change? Is it an item, an animation, a secret area, or just a background object? I mean come on! Throw us a bone here!“

Seth- “Did I already say I have to go? Because I do. Anyway I will probably go to internet hell when I die for acting like such a tease, but no dice. I was actually thinking of spilling the beans at the launch of Mega Man 10, just so we can all move on with our lives, but I was asked not to. That said, I will at least keep my promise to acknowledge that ‘yep, that was the secret’ should someone discover it on their own…“

Here’s the thing though, he totally didn’t have to go. He really didn’t. So why’d he leave? Part of me thinks that maybe my breath started to smell (hey, it happens), and another part  thinks that maybe I was onto something with those Mega Man 10 rumors, and that Seth wasn’t ready to spill the beans yet.

So what do you think, will Mega Man 10 have co-op and Bass, or does my breath smell, or both?

One of my most anticipated DS games of 2010 is Dark Void Zero. Why? Because I trust Capcom when it comes to NES-era gaming. Other than a few outliers like Street Fighter 2010, I loved just about every title they put out on the NES.

As poetic as it is in theory to be fueled by faith alone, it’s even better to have your pre-release videogame excitement powered by stuff you actually know. As always, Capcom-Unity manager Seth Killian is there to help. According to Seth, “Dark Void Zero feels to me a little like a cross between NES Bionic Commando in terms of level design, and Section Z in terms of mechanics. Good clean platform-y, shoot-y fun.” I hope it has a soundtrack to match. Bionic Commando and Section Z have amazing music.

Speaking of which, Dark Void Zero’s soundtrack apparently had a lot to do with the game getting made in the first place. That whole PlayChoice-10 thing? Probably all a silly ruse. Seth says that “It [Dark Void Zero)] was one of those ideas that sort of started out as a joke while listening to Bear McCreary’s 8-bit mix of the Dark Void theme, like ‘wouldn’t it be funny if we did this?’… and then we actually did it.“

You go, Bear McCreary.

Every now and then, we need somebody to tell us something we already knew, and that somebody right now is Bob Jacob, Cinemaware co-founder. Jacob blames the business model of a licensed game, wherein it has to be rushed to coincide with the release of the film. Well, duh. 

“As far as games and movies, there are inherent problems. The basic reason why so many bad games have been made on film licenses is simply because of a business reality that no one has been able to overcome yet,” explains Jacob. “That reality is that the time it takes a film to [hit theaters after being green-lit] is never more than a year. What kind of a game can you do in a year? Generally a piece of crap.

“EA can get around that a little bit by throwing a few hundred guys at a project. But for the most part, it’s been a pretty sorry history, and until we can solve the basic timing issues it’s going to be tough.”

Jacob is obviously correct when he says that you can’t expect many games to be of AAA quality with less than a year of development. However, when I look at slapdash garbage like Avatar: The Game, there really is no excuse. Even in a year, you can at least borrow game engines and mechanics to create a serviceable, if generic, title. The quality of licensed games should be better with the wealth of resources available. However, there is one major problem that Jacob didn’t hit upon that I feel will never be overcome. 

The fact that developers don’t give a sh*t.

Interview: Bob Jacob On The Cinemaware Era [Gamasutra via CVG]

This morning’s Army of Two: the 40th Day trailer is a return to the ridiculous. It features the functionally retarded (and venerable) Salem and Rios during a release day event at a GameStop.  If you care to take a peek at the footage you’ll see one of the two (a) bashing a cash register (b) attacking a woman (c) playing Rock Band (d) and even signing autographs.

Speaking of GameStop, there’s a deal going on in regards to new Army of Two. If you trade in two games, you’ll get 40 dollars towards the shooter. Nice, right?

Army of Two: the 40th Day hits January 12th for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Until that magical day when BioWare announces Wrex Effect, it looks like we’ll have to get comfortable with controlling Mr. Blank Slate, Commander Shepard. But even though we can’t play as the rough and gruff space toad in Mass Effect 2, we can become him. Sort of.

Follow us, here. The Vanguard class in the Mass Effect universe is all about getting in enemies faces and then blasting off said faces with a combination of short-ranged weaponry and biotic powers. In Mass Effect 2 specifically, Vanguards will be able to use the “Charge” attack again, which makes Sheppard move around like The Flash after a cocaine binge. Nothing says proximity like a good old fashioned Krogan rush, right? Right?